Wednesday, July 14, 2010

I recently heard a rumour about the possibility for individuals to order microfilm from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City -- online from their own homes -- and decided to look into it just a bit. I was thinking about how convenient that would be, to be able to peruse the FHL Catalog from home (from the Library tab at www.FamilySearch.org), and be able to go ahead and order films immediately without having to wait until the local Family History Center was open to get that order in. Of course the IDEAL situation would be where you could peruse the catalog, order the film, and then view it digitally IMMEDIATELY... and I certainly hope that is on tap for the future. But for now, I suppose I would be happy with just ordering online.

Anyway, what I discovered was that the ability for patrons to order films online and have them delivered directly to their local Family History Center of choice has already been introduced in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom (https://films.familysearch.org/). Canada was supposed to be enjoying that luxury right about now, however, the Canadian Government just changed it's taxing structure and the Church was forced to delay the implementation of OnLine Film Ordering in Canada until the Canadian Government works out the details with regard to how microfilms and microfiche will be taxed.

And of course, the date given for the initiation of OnLine Film Ordering in the United States was "in the near future"... which as y'all know, means "don't hold your breath"!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Howdy howdy howdy!!! Oh my gosh I've been so busy lately, and neglecting my dear blog, so here is a long overdue post - and you can win something from it too! I was adding a few sites to the Internet Genealogy browser toolbar this morning and happened to check the stats on it - 981 downloads! Wow!

I'm pretty sure that most people using it like it, but I dont often hear back, just from a few. So what I thought I'd do, is since its so close to a landmark ONE THOUSAND downloads, Im going to make this offer... I'm going to ask you to tell your friends about the toolbar - send them the link to the download, and ADD A COMMENT to this blog post including your favorite feature or website on the toolbar, and be sure to include your name! As soon as the toolbar reaches 1,000 downloads (and thats only 19 more, so really soon...) I will draw a random name from the blog comments (even overseas!) who will win a free copy of RootsMagic 4 Genealogy and Family Tree Software! This is a really great program for organizing your family history records. If you already have a copy, share it with another family member to help them get started working on genealogy research with you.. And share the toolbar with them, too!!! http://relativelycurious.ourtoolbar.com

p.s. - your comment won't show up right away ... helps stop spamming, so don't panic, it will be there soon!